Thursday, September 15, 2016

Scientist 'Explores' Pluto Stamps

lan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, shows off his Pluto — Explored! stamp purchase at the Boulder, CO, Post Office.The
scientist who led last year’s historic mission to Pluto recently paid a special
visit to his hometown Post Office.

Alan
Stern, principal investigator and leader of the New Horizons mission, dropped
by the Boulder, CO, office to purchase the new stamps celebrating the
achievement.

“What
an honor this was to the more than 2,500 people who worked on this project,”
Stern said. “And for me, this is highly satisfying to see my home Post Office
carry this stamp.”

The
stamp sheet shows New Horizons, the spacecraft that flew by the dwarf planet
last year, as well as an image taken during the probe’s approach.

In
July, Stern participated in a ceremony honoring a 1991 Pluto stamp that was
affixed to New Horizons during its journey and set a Guinness world record for
the farthest distance traveled by a postage stamp.